Cloudy amber, with a greenish-gold hue around the edges. Frothy, white head that remains. Pretty good lacing.Smell is fairly vapid. Very light malts and hops...can't get much else.Taste is light, creamy malts, with some very faint hops. Very faint notes of barley and corn.Mouthfeel is flat and watery. Wet on the finish. Light-to-medium body.Drinkability is decent. Very bland, but not offensive. (401 characters)

Appearance: A monster 3 finger head that is foamy and airy. The retention on the head is okay. The color of the beer is a medium brown color with a light tan hue. The clarity of the beer is opaque but there are some particles floating with in the vessel. Overall the appearance of the beer is above average.

Nose: A very medium roasted dark malt that is toasty and has some bread notes. The malt is more dominate in this beer with some chocolate and espresso notes. The hop character is subtle in the beer with some fruity and wood notes.

Taste: The medium roasted dark malt with toasted bread notes. The yeast flavor is noticeable as with the hop flavor. The hops is slightly fruity and woody.

Mouth Feel: Slightly coating, carbonated, and astringent.

Overall: The body of the beer is medium and the finish is medium. This beer is slightly disappointing and a tad watered down. I have tasted better Dunkelweizens. (963 characters)

Aroma, roughly suggestive of a wizen, there's a whiff of wheat, sure. Caramel, clove, latent banana. Some of that. But what does "heff ale" mean? Have they created their own colloquialism for "hefe" as in in "hefe weizen." Are they sure that the unwashed masses will have no truck with a "Dunkel wizen", and need to coin the ugly phrase, "dark heff ale." I'm a bit turned off by this.

Smells okay, actually, but uninspiring.

Taste: dark malt, smooth, refreshing what, but comes across as very pedestrian. Eh, it's beer and you can drink it,..I guess. But doesn't do hardly a thing for me. No complexity, nothing special, bland as can be. Sorry. (770 characters)

Overall - Dunkelweizen? Hardly. I should have known better to buy when I saw the label saying it was a "Dark Heff Ale". This is the "dunkel" equivalent of Widmer's "Hefe"; that is to say, it's a sad Americanized version of in the style. It's a fair, easy drink, but nothing I'd buy again. (742 characters)

Pours a murky, dark brown color with a large head that had good retention. Very little lacing is left on the glass. The yeast gave this beer a spicy note rather than a banana, bubblegum one. A little bit of dark wheat bread aroma but otherwise the smell is muted. The flavor also is a bit weak. The yeast does not add much to the flavor. Almost like it was brewed with an ale yeast. Some wheaty malt and a touch of spice and that is about all that there is in the flavor. Not bad but far from great. The body is alright but feels a bit watery. Nicely carbonated. Just a weak tasting wheat beer in the end. It drinks alright but why bother when there are far better ones in the market. (684 characters)

Appearance has a dark ruby red with a firm fluffy head that dissapates slowly leaving nill lace. Smell is lightly roasted with not much else as it is in the Taste as well, also having grain and light caramel with moderate hops. Mouthfeel is medium with good carbonation. Not a bad dark heff, but could use a little more compexity. (330 characters)

Poured into Weizen glass. The beer poured a semi-cloudy deep brown color with about an inch of dark khaki head that had OK retention and lacing.

A solid wheat scent greets the nose with a dark background note I couldn't quite place. The flavors were pretty similar to the aromas, just not as bold.

The body was nicely full, with a dry finish. Drinkability was pretty good, I could drink a couple of these on a sunny afternoon with no trouble. Overall, a decent beer, worth a shot if you see it.

Update 10/3/10: Thanks to Miss Whitney for bringing me back another one of these that she grabbed on her vacation. Many kisses sugar. My first review holds up to my second experience with this brew, I'd like for it to available local to so I could drink it more regularly. Perhaps worth a trade. (793 characters)

Pours a murky brownish-orange color with tons of floaty chunks. Only a thin finger of whitish head is produced from a moderate pour, not much retention. Aroma is mostly toffee and raisin, with minimal banana and wheat characteristics.

Taste is mild with wheat and banana, hints of clove and orange peel. Slight bitter hop in the finish. Feel is smooth but a bit thin and watery. Could use both some more body and carbonation. Drinkability is pretty good as a result. It's light, so it goes down quickly.

Though not as good as some German versions of the style, it is much more affordable and tastes pretty decent. (680 characters)

Thanks to my dear friend Nick for bringing back a sixer of this from Montana for me.

Huge tan head after the initial pour that recedes to a film after a couple of minutes. Very dark brown, almost muddy with a little cola. The taste has some nutty roasted malts, clove like yeast and a pretty dry middle and fiish. None of these flavors stand out, pretty subtle overall. But still an ok session wheat beer. (407 characters)

pours a nice glowing orangey-amber hue with some nice cloudiness. an off-white frothy cap thins to a blanket of foam that leaves minimal tracing of lacing.

aroma is pleasantly wheaty with notes of clove, molasses, cinnamon and a hint of malt.

taste has some interesting spice to it. clove, cinnamon, some herbal notes. touch of spearmint. green herbal hops. caramel malt comes through. way more spice than an average dunkel, this one is interesting, although I'm not sure I'm feeling it entirely.

mouth is nicely creamy. moderate body with ample carbonation. smooth and creamy, especially for a dunkelweizen, which i'm kind of liking.

All in all, an interesting take. I feel like this follows the typical Bayern pattern of almost-awesome but just falling a bit short. The spice is a bit pungent for this one to work well... I could see myself drinking it again, but not my favorite dunkel. (894 characters)

Had a bottle from Princeton's. It poured a dark brown with a short light tan head. This tasted like a wheat porter at first, but then the malts seemed to fade away. It's not a bad dunkelweizen, but the flavors all around are a bit muted compared to other examples in the style like Franziskaner Dunkel. There's a bit of dark bread with spicy phenols. It's smooth and drinkable, but the whole character just isn't there. (419 characters)

A:Dark amber/brown hue covered with a small white head that is very well retained.

S: Heavy on the yeast, with apricot, banana and lemon. Malt is very light and underapparent.

T: Yeast and bitter hops get your attention at first, but a light chocolate malt flavor comes through toward the end with an unexpected touch of smoke. Finish carries a lengthy bitterness.

M: Nice soft wheaty mouthfeel, and well carbonated with fine bubbles.

Compared with previous dunkelweizens I have enjoyed, I thought this one was lacking a bit in terms of malt and was overly bitter. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the smooth mouthfeel. (626 characters)

not sure why a german style dark wheat beer thats under 6% abv is called dragons breath, with flames all over the label, kind of gimmicky or misleading or something, but nevertheless, the beer isnt all that bad. i can see a thick layer of yeast or bottling sugar on the bottom of the bottle, but a careful pour yields a slightly murky dark brown thin liquid with a half inch of head that fades instantly. the nose is not real german yeasty at all, nor german malty really, more american medium roast barley, somewhere between a porter and a black ale in that regard, with some doughy yeast and a lightness not explained by the color. the taste is rather generic, and off the mark a bit for the style theyre calling it, but its a drinkable dark brew. yeast forward, but nothing too interesting. nice roast on the malt, slight chocolate note and a tad sweet at the end, still clean in the finish and easy to drink a fair few of these. i didnt love this one, but it served its purpose as the only non gold craft beer i could find at a town pump servo in colstrip, montana. wont seek this out again, but it didnt offend me by any means, and at under 8 bucks a 6 pack, i cant really complain... (1,189 characters)

This beer pours out a nice brown with a nice creamy brownish head with lots of lace. The smell is of fruits with a hints of nuts. Nice really malty taste that is just a touch sweet which I like in a nice dark wheat beer. Has a really smooth finish with a bit heavy mouth. For a dunkelweizen this is one of the better ones. Goes great on a hot summer afternoon with salsa and chips. (381 characters)

This beer takes me back to my first visit to a pub in Dusseldorf. I learned later that the amazing beer from the wooden keg was called Altbier. Dragon's Breath is reminiscent of that beer - deep and rich in colour, slightly sweet nose, plenty of toasty malt flavour. I will freely admit that it's New Years and my taste buds may be somewhat dulled, so I will keep it short and sweet. Good beer - I'm looking forward to trying one with a clean palate tomorrow! (459 characters)

Appearance – The beer pours a burnt orange-red mahogany color with a one finger head of pure white foam. The head has a good level of retention, slowly fading to leave a good level of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma of the beer is heaviest of a slightly burnt wheat bread smell with a strong showing of yeast. There is a little bit of a banana and a bit of a coriander and clove smell as well.

Taste – The taste begins with a caramel and wheat bread taste with a bit of roasted malt mixed within. Some dark fruit flavors are there as well, along with some of the banana that was detected in the nose. Other light coriander flavors come to the taste later in the profile, and with the other flavors, ends up leaving a rather smooth, darkened wheaty flavor to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the slightly thicker and creamier side with a carbonation level that is average. For the wheat and darker flavors of the brew the feel is rather nice and with its carbonation level it makes for a very easy drinker.

Overall – A pretty nice drinker overall with a good blend of wheaty and darker flavors all while keeping a good drinkability. (1,240 characters)

This beer pours a cloudy, iced tea colour, with bits of sediment swirling about the bottom of the glass. It has one finger of very temporary soapy pale beige head, which leaves nary a trace of lace. The aroma is fairly weak, just a bit of wheat grain. The taste is sweet malt, a bit of spicy wheat, some yeast, molasses, and a bit of dry earthy hops. The carbonation is moderate, the body medium weight, smooth, and a tad creamy. It finishes off-dry: malty, spicy wheat, and more earthy hops.

An overall decent dunkel, but a bit too restrained, to live up to its moniker. (635 characters)

It tastes semisweet, a little smoky; there is a slight clove flavor. You can taste a nice yeasty flavor. I also get a bit of a caramel taste. A nice beer. It is quite light for the color but has a nice flavor.

Carbonation is moderate.

The drinkability is pretty good I could drink a few of these.

Overall a pretty good beer. Not great but pretty good. (458 characters)

Looking for a different kind of bock? Look here. This is not your typical clove-and-banana German Wheat beer profile. It’s more of a rustic Altbier yeast with some depth to keep things interesting. (496 characters)